[senco-forum] access arrangements you can't meet ????

When I said not fulfilling access arrangements, I was thinking more in 
terms of parents or a student who may challenge the school if they did 
not reach the grades they expected because the arrangement was 'just 
not provided due to staffing difficulties' rather than a student 
deciding they don't want to use it.

I have no option but to withdraw support from students not taking 
exams.  Apart from one student who has global learning difficulties 
and 100% support from arrival to departure, all LSAs are used for 
exams.  I look forward to the day when enough readers and scribes are 
available to avoid this - schools will have to afford it.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara Blaney" <BBLANEY at chalvedon-barstable.com>
To: "Lesley" <lesley.hodges at gmail.com>; "lucy grimme" 
<lucy.grimme at btinternet.com>; "WrayJanice Wray" 
<jwwray14 at hotmail.com>; "senco forum" <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 7:18 PM
Subject: RE: [senco-forum] access arrangements you can't meet ????

My situation is similar to Lesley's. I do have 32 TAs to use but of 
course they can't all be taken away from pupils they support.  I think 
the advent of so many modular exams has put extra pressure on, we now 
have modular English, maths and science so they are huge implications 
for Year 10 and 11 (not fogetting years 12-13). Rooms aren't usually a 
problem as they are freed up by the pupils doing the exams. My 
difficulty is starting exams in 3 places at the same time and 
sometimes when I should be teaching.  If my TAs in a room are very 
confident they feel OK about starting but as some pupils can be 
difficult and the satrt is so important I don't presume they will be 
OK.

Barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk on behalf of Lesley
Sent: Sun 5/13/2007 7:06 PM
To: 'lucy grimme'; 'WrayJanice Wray'; 'senco forum'
Subject: RE: [senco-forum] access arrangements you can't meet ????

We sometimes apply for an access arrangement and then decide not to 
use it
for one
Reason or another ... mainly teenage pupils can be quite contrary and 
think
they don't need the access arrangement when it comes to sitting the 
final
exam ... but I work on the principal that its better to be prepared 
and have
an access arrangement in place and not use it than not have one in 
place and
have to tell the pupil they can't have any help what so ever. 
Especially
when you  have to make the application so early in the year so you 
can't
leave these things to chance .... this is usually the conversation I 
have
with the pupils as they are being tested for their access arrangement.

We have never in all the years I have been involved in planning for 
access
arrangements and that's at least the ten years been taken to task for 
not
using an access arrangement that has been granted ... and its never so 
far
had a knock on effect for the next batch of applications ... after 
saying
that its not very often that the pupils don't fully make use of their 
access
arrangement.

Staffing wise is a nightmare I regularly can be found at this time of 
the
year begging people to help us out with the exams and find bribery and
chocolate a great part of my exam kit. Rooms are also an issue and I 
try to
make the best of a bad job but you usually find us all over the 
building in
all sorts of strange places.

One of my jobs this weekend was to work out an exam timetable for the
G.C.S.E.s and in the middle of realized that the year 10's have a 
science
exam on the same day when some year 11's are already double booked for 
exams
.... oh what joys !

Lesley

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of lucy 
grimme
Sent: 17 May 2007 17:34
To: WrayJanice Wray; senco forum
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] access arrangements you can't meet ????

don't know what would happen if you applied for and received
permission for access arrangements and then didn't put them into
place; I would imagine that would open you up to all sorts of
liabilities.

I think many secondary schools are now in this position.  We hold
regular training sessions for readers and scribes.  Training materials
are available from Communicate-Ed.  We use all support staff who are
not invigilating exams and a pool of outside people who only work as
readers and scribes as well as being prompts, doing transcripts and
acting as invigilators in SEN groups; ie they are not employed in any
other capacity at school - they are paid an hourly rate the same as
invigilators.  We do not use teachers; teachers cannot be asked to
carry out this role during eg., their yr11 gained time or non contact
time.  some staff quite rightly, raised points about students with SEN
needing to feel relaxed with people they knew doing the job of reading
to them but this is just not possible when we have 35 in the current
year 10 who are entitled to access arrangements; 32 of them to either
a reader, scribe or both.  We therefore have to train the children
that they might expect somebody who doesn't know them.  Of course, we
match up the very neediest children with the known LSA and the
strongest with outside staff and do our best to cater accordingly.
Accommodation is also an issue.  We carried out the SATs across three
rooms, which of course, requires three invigilators. It's a major job
which is  not easy but it's do-able.  It has to be.

I'd be interested in what other secondary schools with large numbers
are doing.  Most of my advice came from Caroline Read of Communicate
Ed.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "WrayJanice Wray" <jwwray14 at hotmail.com>
To: "senco forum" <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 4:37 PM
Subject: [senco-forum] access arrangements you can't meet ????

We've been fully stretched this year - very small department - with
SATS - GCSEs will be tricky too to find someone to scribe/read etc.
Now, I wonder what is the position if the access arrangement has been
granted by the Exam Board but the school doesn't meet the need and the
paper isn't read/scribed etc ?
Next year will be o.k. (probably) but the year after that and
subsequent years I think there will be more and more students needing
help and my department is down to me and a part time support teacher
and two full time T.A.s plus another for just 6 hrs. That's due to the
new funding arrangements in Hertfordshire.
Anyway, what would happen - anyone know ?
Janice
Oh and thanks for all the replies re: computers and epilepsy - I;ve
passed the information on
GreatJanice Wray Secondary SENCO, Herts
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